Brass (Foot)balls

That's what Les Miles has my friends. I mentioned this briefly after the LSU/Florida game, but it warrants another mention - I don't believe there has been a coach that has been as impressive as Les Miles this year. Granted, he's playing with a ridiculously talented roster, but you still have to be impressed with what he's doing there. Sure his gambling didn't pay off at Kentucky, but that's why it's called gambling. And doing so, I believe, can build tremendous confidence with your teammates. I'd like to see Mack take his staff down and spend a week shadowing Les and company to learn how to grow a pair and take risks. I've given Miles a lot of grief over the years, especially his time at Oklahoma State, but he's proved me wrong - terrific coaching job this year...and it makes for some great football watching.

I see a great deal of familiarity with this LSU team as last year's Florida team - both have a loss at this point of the year as well as a couple of tight games (against very good competition). Not a lot of folks felt that Florida deserved the shot at Ohio State (remember, every talking head in the nation wanted a rematch with Michigan and OSU - man there are some dumb SOBs in sports these days), but the managed to slide in with their conference championship win over Arkansas...and then we all remember what happened. Don't be surprised to see the media/talking heads push more aggressively to get LSU in the title game based on their misjudgements last year. I don't think it will be too tough assuming they can win out.

Here are the Rest of My Saturday Observations:

• Is there a team out there that can underachieve better than Texas? I think not. Tell me if this sounds familiar: Texas comes in clearly unprepared to play a game (I'm convinced they had the entire week of practice off last week); Texas plays lazy/sloppy football (3 fumbles, 2 INTs and 70 yards in stupid penalties); Texas players couldn't match Baylor's intensity and emotion at any point in the game; Texas offensive line gets, literally, pushed around for the entire game; and the Texas defensive secondary has no BLEEPING idea what they are doing. Par for the course for Texas playing an inferior opponent. I think Texas is such an appealing place to play because neither the players nor the coaches are actually held accountable for their performance - it's like being an executive at a big hi tech company. Nice "work" if you can get it.

• I had an epiphany on Saturday - there's a reason that Duane Akina hasn't been promoted to defensive play caller before this year. He sucks at it. He's running this defense and other than the front 4, they are terrible. I mean, our secondary's pass coverage is atrocious. They were picked apart by Baylor's 3rd string QB. I don't have any idea what the hell McDuff is doing this year, but these guys need to be put on notice after this year. Oh wait, Mack is their boss....they'll probably get a damn raise.

• And speaking of not showing up to play...how about those Red Raiders. Before the weekend I spoke of them being a "different Tech team" this year and really pumped up the heisman talk for both Harrell and Crabtree. Woops. Talk about laying an egg. They did what Tech always does which is too bad. Let's be fair though, Missouri played like a team possessed yesterday. It all started with the tipped pass going for 6 on Tech's first possession - they never really recovered from that. And memo to Mike Leach - you can bitch all you want about players not executing, but you coached a crappy game. How about punting the ball once or twice and actually giving your defense a chance. I think when Leach gets into that mode of going for it on 4th down (regardless of distance) it becomes personal to him. Not a good recipe for coaching success - a large portion of this loss is on Leach.

• Crabtree should still be in New York for the heisman ceremony. He broke Mike Williams' freshman record for receiving yards...halfway through the season. I'm going out on a limb (barely) with this statement - there's not a better wide receiver than Crabtree in college football right now.

• Joining my list of team's that are most consistently overrated year in and year out - the Cal Bears. I swear, every year is "their year". Georgia, Tennessee and Texas - please welcome your new brethren.

• So UCLA, who lost to both Utah and Notre Dame (yea, that Notre Dame) sits atop of the Pac 10 along side Arizona State. Lot of folks early on were calling the Pac 10 the toughest conference this year....not sure I can agree with that.

• And speaking of the Pac 10 - Arizona State? Yes, the Sun Devils are undefeated, but still have a pretty tough schedule ahead of them. Keep an eye on these guys the rest of the way.

• I gotta think Callahan will be fired before Monday afternoon (probably today - Sunday). They got destroyed at home, for the second consecutive week against a pretty poor Texas A&M team. That team is soooo bad right now where does an interim coach even begin. I think that firing Callahan (his players clearly have given up on him) will do more to motivate the players to play for pride the rest of the way than anything that Coach C could conjure up.

• And yes Coach Fran, you'll still be looking for another job at year's end as well - don't get too excited.

Quick NFL Hits:

• How does Tennessee continue to win games like this? Leading 32-7 going into the fourth quarter, they gave up 29 points in the final 15 minutes and had to kick a last-second field goal to win (8th field goal of the day). Weird, weird game.
  
• Adrian Peterson will be a HUUUUUUGE superstar much sooner than we may expect.
  
• The Giants may be the hottest team in the NFC right now - who saw that coming??
  
• Can't wait to see Colts vs. Jags tomorrow night - should be a great game.
  
• Where in the world did all the "Dolphins in an upset" talk come from last week - there was a lot of it.
  

My Predictions for Next Week:
I know it's heartbreaking to all of you, but I will be out of town for the next week so the next posting won't come until November 1 so I'm giving you my "I'll-be-out-of-the-country-so-I-can't-take-heat-for-them" picks for next week's games:

• Look for the Red Raiders to bounce back and beat the Buffaloes in Lubbock - they need a big win
• Could be the big game of the day for the Big 12 - undefeated (and ninth rank in the BCS) Kansas Jayhawks visit College Station. I expect Kansas to win this game, but this may be the toughest opponent the Jayhawks will have faced. I'm still going with Kansas in this one, but should be a good game.
  
• Could we see yet another number 1 go down next weekend? Perhaps as the Buckeyes visit Penn State. I'm going with OSU in this one, but in a field goal or less.
• And speaking of yet another upset.... BIG ACC game when Boston College visits Virginia Tech (who's playing quite well). I don't know much about the ACC teams this year, but I'm going with VaTech in the "upset".
  
• Huge day in the Pac 10 as well when Oregon and USC face off while Cal and Arizona State battle in Tempe. I'm definitely going with Oregon over USC as they just seem to be playing more consistently (sorry, USC's blowout over Notre Dame doesn't tell me much except what I knew - that ND is one of the worst teams in the country). I just can't seem to bring myself to pick Cal anymore so I'm officially going with ASU...but deep down I can totally see Cal pulling the upset.
  
• While LSU has a much-needed and much-deserved off week, we've still got the largest outdoor cocktail party. Given the state of things in the SEC East, this is a big game. I don't see Georgia hanging with Florida in that one - Tebow just gets better and better. Still, Florida REALLY needs a more consistent running back - Tebow can't take a beating every week. We've also got South Carolina visiting Tennessee - who in the world knows what you're going to get in that one. I'll take Spurrier over Fulmer any day of the week though.
  
• Oklahoma State at Oklahoma - I'm just saying, it's not that far-fetched after this crazy year.....and Oklahoma's mediocre performance against a horrible Iowa State.
  
• UPSET SPECIAL: This sounds crazy and most of you will get all over me for this, but here it goes. Nebraska comes into Austin and upsets the inconsistent Longhorns. Nebraska is seemingly as low as they can get, but I think they'll get pumped up for this one. And, if in fact Nebraska fires Callahan, that's an even better chance. Look for Nebraska to get a late field goal to upset Texas - 24-23.
  

Alright gang, enjoy next week's games - I'll be kicking it in the British Virgin Islands, but will be back in time to get a preview of the November 3rd games.